Thursday's Afternoon Update

What you need to know about Florida today

| 3/13/2014

Florida businesses plan equipment purchases, hiring

It looks like 2014 will be a year of investment in Florida businesses. Seventy-two percent of business owners and executives surveyed by BMO Harris Bank said they plan to pump money into their companies this year. More at the Tampa Bay Business Journal.

Florida leads nation in "zombie foreclosures"

For those who’ve noticed home after home in Florida of overgrown grass, dirty pools and dark windows at night, you’re not seeing the end of the world. It’s just Florida’s zombie foreclosure apocalypse. More at the South Florida Business Journal.

Thoughts and reflections on Gov. Reubin Askew

Tourism

Wright Stuff

Florida Southern's Usonian House follows architectural plans Frank Lloyd Wright created in 1938. It serves as the school s tourism and education center.

Statements of condolence and remembrance are coming in following the death this morning of former Gov. Reubin Askew. Read what Rick Scott, Charlie Crist, Will Weatherford and others have to say at the Orlando Sentinel.

Eight same-sex Florida couples who legally married elsewhere in the United States have gone to federal court to demand the Sunshine State recognize their unions. The suit, filed in Tallahassee late Wednesday by the ACLU, the ACLU of Florida and the Podhurst Orseck law firm of Miami, challenges “Florida’s refusal to recognize” the marriages of eight same-sex couples. More at the Miami Herald and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

AutoNation rolls out "express" service to grow

Looking to boost revenue from their service departments, Fort Lauderdale-based AutoNation is rolling out express service lanes at more than 150 stores to get their customers in and out faster. More at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

Out of the Box Nile crocodile captured in Everglades

A Nile crocodile, thousands of miles from its native Africa, was captured alive over the weekend in Everglades National Park. A criminal investigation has been opened by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission into how the reptile got there. Read more from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and the Miami Herald.